Saturday, June 4, 2016

Optimization for Libor forward curve has been presented in this blog post. This time, we will adjust the presented optimization procedure in such way, that OIS-adjusted Libor forward rates are going to be solved for a given fixed set of swap rates and OIS discount factors.

In a nutshell, justification for OIS-adjusted forward rates is the following :

In the "old world", we first bootstrapped Libor zero-coupon curve, from which we calculated Libor discount factors and Libor forward rates (for constructing floating leg coupons) at the same time. Only one curve was ever needed to accomplish this procedure.

In the "new world", since all swap cash flows are discounted using OIS discount factors and par swap rates are still used for constructing swap fixed leg cash flows, forward rates (OIS-adjusted Libor forward rates) have to be slightly adjusted, in order to equate present value of all swap cash flows back to be zero.

All the relevant issues have been clearly explained in this research paper by Barclays.

Screenshots below are showing required Excel worksheet setups along with optimized OIS-adjusted Libor forward curve and required additions to existing VBA program needed to perform this optimization task. In order to validate the optimized OIS-adjusted Libor forward curve, a 10-year vanilla swap has been re-priced using optimized OIS-adjusted Libor forward rates and given set of fixed OIS discount factors.

When setting up VBA program, first implement the program presented in this blog post. After this, add two new functions (IRSwapOISPV, linearInterpolation) presented below into module XLSFunctions. Finally, remember to include references to Solver and Microsoft Scripting Runtime libraries.

why not get the par ois swap rate, and make the ois DF also part of the variable into the solver? the ois DF will be constrained on making the ois swaps npv = 0? would that make your spreadsheet more stand alone? only observable par swap rates are the input ...

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